The Process of Children’s Adaptation to Mothers’ Dual Roles within Nuclear Families in Tlogowaru Urban Village, Kedungkandang District, Malang City

Abstract

The increasing participation of women in the Indonesian workforce makes the double burden phenomenon increasingly relevant, particularly in nuclear families where mothers simultaneously fulfill public and domestic roles. This study aims to describe the adaptation process of children with double burden mothers and identify the challenges they face from a gender perspective. This study used a qualitative case study approach with nine informants from three nuclear families in Tlogowaru Village, Malang City. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, participant observation, and documentation studies, then analyzed using the Miles and Huberman interactive model. The results of this study indicate that children's adaptation occurs through four interrelated dimensions: cognitive, emotional, social, and independence, mapped into the honeymoon, crisis, recovery, and adjustment stages. This process is inseparable from informal learning within the family and the transmission of patriarchal gender values, which have the potential to produce a cycle of double burden in the next generation. This study contributes to the study of non-formal education by demonstrating that double burden mothers provide a rich informal learning space and that non-formal education programs such as parenting education can play a strategic role in supporting families in managing this phenomenon.